Nicholas Hagger's Collected Poems contained 30 volumes of his poems that
reflect his quest for the One. Life Cycle and Other New Poems contains
volumes 31-34 and presents the vision of unity to which his quest has
led. 'Life Cycle' is a reflection on the path and pattern in our lives,
and on twelve seven-year ages from infancy to advanced old age. 'In
Harmony with the Universe' presents poems on the soul's harmony and
oneness with Nature. 'An Unsung Laureate' focuses on public events and
the conflicts within Western society. 'Adventures in Paradise' recounts
journeys to remote places that have echoes of Paradise, including the
Galapagos Islands and Antarctica - and reflections on evolution and
global warming. Hagger derives his inspiration from the 17th-century
Metaphysical poets and seeks to unite the later Augustan and Romantic
traditions. These poems reconcile the soul's harmony with the universe
and the conflicts in public life, and are within the poetic tradition of
Wordsworth and Tennyson. They add significantly to Collected Poems,
Classical Odes and Hagger's two poetic epics, Overlord and Armageddon,
also published by O-Books (the manuscripts and papers for which are held
in the Albert Sloman Library at the University of Essex). They carry
forward his Universalist approach to poetry which unveils an ordered
universe behind the apparent chaos of world events.
